PV Gap

Wilma Said:

Need help with science homework - please!?

We Answered:

Here is couple of my thought.

6. A
8. B
22. D
23. D

Bob Said:

What does New York City do with all of its garbage?

We Answered:

they haul all their garbage over to jersey.

Dean Said:

I need some help with these electric vehicles. Please read?

We Answered:

There's no better way to learn about building EVs then to build one.

The best home built car in my opinion would have a polyurethane foam and fiberglass composite sandwich for body, and carbon fiber frame, with titanium where the moving components are joined. But that is little too ambitious for your first project.

For your first car you just want to get it built, don't worry about making it perfect, you can modify it later on or move on to new projects.

Solar panels are also expensive. Here's a good deal on an 80 watt panel.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/di…
80 watts is a little more then 1/10 horsepower.

when you pedal your bicycle you're probably averaging about 75 watts of power, and you average 15-20 mph. For short bursts you can get up to 300 or maybe 400 watts, but only for a very short period of time. Lance Armstrong can't even produce much more then that, but his superior conditioning allows him to produce that power for long periods of time.

So if you make the vehicle light enough, that solar panel could move the car at an average speed of 10 mph. If you want to go any faster then that, the solar panel will just be there to extend the range. But I say scrap the solar panel, it's too expensive and it complicates things and doesn't really give you that much benefit.

Your axle generator idea is good thinking. Of course you should know it would take more power away from the wheels then it would put back. But that doesn't mean you can't use the idea. It's called regenerative breaking. Any electric motor can also be an electric generator. For regenerative breaking, you need a controller that can reroute the power back into the batteries from the motor thus slowing down the car.

I would recommend starting with a rolling chassis and building your electrical components into it. Get yourself a used 4 wheeler, which you can pick up cheap because you don't care if the engine runs, as long as the chassis, suspension and breaks are good. Then pick up the rest of what you need here:

http://www.electricmotorsport.com/

I recommend the sevcon millipak controller because of it's regenerative breaking capabilities, coupled whatever motor you like the best, I think the pmac is the best value at 48V. Then get a throttle and 4 12v batteries. It will all cost about $2000, and be a pretty kick *** electric vehicle.

But before you even do that, you can get a fully functional EV, out of the box, for $300 here:

http://www.kingsmotorbikes.com/izip_elec…

For education, it sounds like you're in to engineering. Don't worry about vocational stuff unless it sounds like fun to you. Take your math and science classes and apply to whatever college you want.